Running Update #1

I’ve decided to make my post on Saturday or Sunday a running update each week. Because I do my long run on Saturdays, it will work perfectly! Well, at least almost perfectly. It will be race reports, an essay-type post about running in general, or just how my running was this week.

And this week, it will be the latter. Cause I’m just that boring.

This week was interesting, because that cold I pretended to not have last Saturday blew up on Sunday. For a while it was one bad head cold: headache, achy, congestion, sore throat, ick! I was nervous how it was going to effect my running because of the 15K next week, which I’m still nervous about, by the way, in case you were wondering, cause I know you were. Thanks for thinking about me! Anyway, I wanted to be able to complete my 3 days a week of running without it making my cold worse (I’ll go into why I only run 3 days a week another week.) I subscribe to the theory that when you’re sick, if you’re only sick from the neck up, then it’s ok to exercise, neck down, stay in bed you lucky b****. ( my mom reads this. must censor.)

When Tuesday rolled around, which is normally my tempo day, I was feeling really beat, but not awful. After thinking, and putzing and changing my mind audibly every 5 minutes about whether I was going to go run or not, I went. That 15K in the future was the ultimate bully, giving me no choice. So, on tempo days, I run about 4 miles FAST. It’s a run to work on my speed. I ran it at about 8:15 min/miles and was able to finish without slowing down. It was probably the hardest tempo I’ve run, because my legs felt like lead. But, I ran it, finished it, and that was all I could ask of myself.

I skipped my Thursday run because my work is polyurethaneing the floor below mine, and it gave me a killer headache, one that I couldn’t shake all day and night. AND, I was still sick. When I get a cold, I tend to have them for about 6 weeks. Well, not THAT long, but longer than most people. So, the combo of the 2 made a cranky, upset, hurting me. Not someone who wanted to go run.

So, to Saturday (yesterday) it was. This time, there was no question I would do my long run, and when I woke up yesterday and opened my curtains, that sun was beaming and my excitement was overflowing! Saturday long runs outside might be my favorite part of my week, so on a beautiful, 40 degree day, I couldn’t wait. Well, I had to wait a little, cause I had just eaten half a Clif bar (my pre-long run snack), and had to wait an hour before I left. Stupid sensitive stomach. I was going to do my run in Central Park, which had helped alot lately with my practice on hills, which I used to be horrid at and am slowly getting much better. Most of New York is very very flat, but Central Park is incredibly hilly. So, I was going to do 8 miles, same as last week: Starting at E. 69th St., doing the entire loop, running back to the 102nd st. traverse and back down to Engineers Gate. Later, when I Maped My Run when I got home, it was more like 8.5, but that’s ok.

The run was pretty gosh darn great! It took me about 1.5 miles to get into my groove, which is about .5 miles longer than it normally does, but I tackled the Harlem Hills well, probably felt the best I’ve ever felt after them, along with the west side hills. One of the most difficult parts of running in Central Park is when you run along the southern section, there are lots of horses, and when you’re running a long run, that LAST thing you want to smell is horse crap. Yeah…be happy you don’t have to experience that. It sucks. But, it made me run faster every time I passed some overpaying tourist who could see the park alot better on foot, especially on a sunny day. Moving on, once again, at mile 4.5-5, I was feeling it. It was hard and I wasn’t sure if I was going to finish. But, once I got over that hump, I would have been good for hours! In fact, when I finished, I was sure I had measured my run wrong, because I didn’t feel like I had run 8 miles at all. I was almost going to keep going, but didn’t want to force extra milage on myself. I think I will always have a hard time at that distance, but just have to get through it and get back into the grove.

Overall, a great run on a great day (the park was bustling), and I’m looking forward to the 15K next weekend! In fact I’m quite excited {laughs nervously. then gets a cold sweat. then has a panic attack.}

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4 Responses to “Running Update #1”

Good luck with the upcoming 15K!! I’m jealous of your long run! 🙂 I am finally feeling extremely better today, and it is sunny out, so I’m about to go for a nice jog here soon. I wish I had Central Park to run through though! I bet it’s beautiful… (I’ve never been to NYC before! 😦 Someday…)